Garden balsam - growing from seeds. The most interesting thing about the “impatient” flower: description, photos and recommendations for planting and caring for garden balsam Balsam in the country care

Garden balsam, is it annual or perennial? herbaceous plant Balsam family. The flower's homeland is the tropics and subtropics of Africa, India, and Asia. It also grows in New Guinea and Ceylon. Some species can be found in Central Asia, Europe, and America. It was brought to Europe at the end of the 16th century. Today it is one of the popular plants among gardeners.

Impatiens belongs to long-flowering plants of spherical or pyramidal shape. Plant heights range from 20 to 70 centimeters (wild varieties reach 2 meters). The bush is erect. The stems are brittle at the nodes, branched, smooth and succulent.

The plant is densely leafed. The length of the leaves is from 8 to 12 centimeters. The shape is oval or lance-shaped. The location is alternate. The leaves are fleshy, the edges are pointed and jagged. Color ranges from purple-bronze to green.

Flowers irregular shape, large, sessile, located in the axils of the leaves. Color red, white, pink, purple. Hybrid plants have multi-colored leaves and double flowers different colors(13 shades), except yellow, blue.

Impatiens bloom lasts from early summer (late spring) to mid-autumn.

After flowering, green fruits are formed. The fruit is an oblong polysperm with 5 chambers. When the fruit ripens, a dry, elongated capsule with small seeds is formed. There are about 100 brown-brown seeds in one gram. The germination of planting material is maintained for 8 years.

When touched, the fruits open sharply, 5 flaps swing open and curl. The seeds scatter two meters around. Because of this feature, the plant is popularly called Impatiens; in addition, other names are known, for example, Vanka wet, Ogonyok.

There are more than 500 types of balsam found in nature. About 15 species are used in floriculture.

There are 3 main groups:

Traditional species with pink, white, red flowers, green foliage, succulent spreading stems.
Compact, medium-sized hybrids (F1) with a mass of flowers in white, red, lilac, pink, orange.
New Guinea variegated hybrids.

Among the types of balsam there are variegated, double, and single-colored plants. Double flowers are divided into carnation-shaped, rose-shaped, and camellia-shaped.
According to the growth form, balsam is divided into bush, ampelous, and erect types.

There are low-branching plants up to 40 centimeters high (bouquet-bush). The flowers rise above the leaves and form a unique bouquet.
The dwarf (low-branching) form grows up to 25 centimeters.

For growing in the garden the best views balsam are: Waller's balsam, Ampelny, Tom tumb, Camellia, New Guinea, Terry, Room.

This is a medium-sized, perennial plant. It includes a large number of hybrids. In the garden the flower is grown as an annual.

The bush is compact, grows up to 30 centimeters (in room conditions up to 60 centimeters). Bush with spherical, lush crown. Stems are highly branched, bare, succulent.

The leaves are thin, bright, shiny, reddish-bronze or dark green. The petiole is long and grips the plate. The plate is broadly oval or ovoid-diamond-shaped with a wide wedge-shaped base (length about 5 centimeters) and a pointed apex. The edge is dense.

The flowers are distributed at the ends of the stems, quite large, double or simple, solitary. Color ranges from white to purple flowers, there are two-color ones. The plant is adapted to growing in the shade.

Impeller balsam

It is a ground cover plant. The height reaches 80 centimeters. Bush with a large number of shoots, compact. The flowers are large, 6 centimeters in diameter, numerous, varied in color. It is grown in garden plots, under trees in partial shade, in flower beds and borders. In indoor conditions it blooms all year round.

Has a vigorously growing bush. Plant height 25 centimeters. The leaves are tender, there are many of them on the bush. The flowers are large, up to 5 centimeters in diameter, double. Suitable for decorating flower beds, lawns, flower beds, outdoor vases.

It is distinguished by double, large flowers. IN favorable conditions the plant grows up to 1 meter. Often planted in mixborders or the back of flower beds. Grown by seedlings. Afraid of frost.

An annual hybrid, it grows at home as a perennial. The species includes single or semi-double tall varieties (up to 1 meter) with large flowers of white, red, lilac, and pink.

The bushes are compact. The stems are fleshy, strong, up to 30 centimeters long. Leaves range from bright, rich green to bronze flowers. The middle of the plate is yellow. Sometimes the leaves are variegated. Flowers of various colors, large, up to 8 centimeters in diameter.
These hybrids are heat- and light-loving and drought-resistant. Flowers have the property of continuous flowering.

The terry species reaches 25 centimeters in height. Flowers are 4 centimeters in diameter, bicolor (red and white). Flowers are decorative. Propagated by seeds and cuttings.

Indoor balsam is grown on a windowsill, in a greenhouse, or in a flower bed. Blooms all year round. Height up to 60 centimeters. The flowers are bright. When planted in the ground, the bush grows into a lush bush.

Popular varieties:

Kin Kong- a low, abundantly flowering variety, reaching 30 centimeters in height, with large bright and colorful flowers with a diameter of 6 centimeters;

Super Elfin grows up to 25 centimeters in height. The color range includes 13 shades;

Has double, semi-double flowers;

Variety Symphony homogeneous, compact, no more than 20 centimeters high. The flowers are large, bright, of various shades;

Fiesta- these are perennial plants with decorative double flowers different colors, there are variegated varieties;

The Kandy group includes 17 varieties with simple and semi-double flowers.
You can also note: Baby Bush, Java, Harmony, Mini Gini, Tango.

Impatiens blooms from early summer to mid-autumn, but dies when temperatures drop sharply.

Seeds are sown in late March - early April (depending on the region).

When sowing from mid-February - early March, the seedlings are additionally illuminated and planted in the garden in greenhouses. After the air warms up, the cover is removed.

Ampelous varieties are planted in late March - early April.

In the greenhouse and greenhouse, seeds are sown in mid-April.

In the spring, to accelerate flower growth and early flowering, balsam is sown at home.

To grow seedlings, take a wide container with drainage holes at the bottom. You can use planting cassettes or pots with a diameter of 7 centimeters. The bottom of any container is filled with a layer of fine vermiculite or expanded clay.

After spreading the seeds on the surface, they are sprinkled with earth or buried a few millimeters. Deeper planting can lead to a complete absence of seedlings.

Preparing soil and seeds

The soil for growing balsam seedlings should be slightly acidic, nutritious and moderately loose. The substrate can be purchased at finished form or make it from turf soil, peat, sand, perlite. All components are taken in equal parts. The mixture is mixed and treated with a fungicide against any fungal diseases.

Seeds are additionally processed before sowing. They need to be placed in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for 20 minutes. Then the seeds are soaked for several hours in warm water with the addition of a growth stimulant. Then they are washed and dried on a napkin.

Seeds are sown on the surface of moist soil at intervals of 3 centimeters from each other. For ease of sowing, use a moistened toothpick.
When sowing in cassettes, one seed goes into each container.

The seeds are sprinkled thin layer soil, everything is sprayed with a spray bottle. The container is covered with film or glass. The temperature under the glass should be 22-24 degrees.

The container with the seeds is placed on the windowsill.

Direct sunlight should be avoided when growing!

Shoots appear in 1.5-2.5 weeks. Some varieties may germinate faster. After the seeds hatch, the temperature decreases by 2 degrees.

For better growth, the seeds are provided with additional lighting with a fluorescent lamp. Daylight hours should be at least 12 hours a day.

Provided for seedlings good ventilation. Twice a day, the film (glass) is removed for 10 minutes. As the seedlings grow, the interval between removing the cover is reduced until the film (glass) is completely removed.

Watering is done in a tray, this avoids waterlogging of the soil. Excess water is drained from the pan. When watering a container, water should be poured along the edges of the container.

After the appearance of 5-7 main leaves, the plants are planted in separate pots. To make the bush fuller, you can pinch the top.

Before transplanting into the ground, plants in pots are taken out into the fresh air for a day to acclimatize. When the soil warms up and there are no frosts, the plants can be replanted.

Balsam can be planted in open ground after spring frosts have passed.

Impatiens loves well-lit areas. During the day, light partial shade should be created for the flower. The leaves of the plant are tender and may suffer from heat. In the shade, the flowers become smaller and the bush becomes longer.

Holes are prepared for planting. The gap between the bushes should be from 20 to 60 centimeters (depending on the size of the adult plant). Complex fertilizers are added to the hole along with the soil.

For better removal from the pot, the plants are watered. Exposed roots straighten out. If there is a clod of earth, the soil is not shaken off.

The seedlings are buried down to the cotyledon leaves. The remaining space in the hole is filled with substrate and pressed down. After planting, the plants are watered. The ground around the seedlings is mulched.

Summer care consists of loosening after each watering, removing weeds and fertilizing.

To get rid of weeds and preserve moisture, the areas around the plants are mulched with sawdust and peat.

Loosening is carried out to a depth of 1.5 centimeters. With this loosening, air easily passes to the roots of the plant. The roots are not exposed.

Impatiens is a moisture-loving flower and the soil for good growth should not dry out, but in turn, waterlogging is also unacceptable. The water should be settled and soft.

Fertilizing is applied twice a month, starting from planting until autumn. Any complex, weakly concentrated fertilizer is suitable for feeding.

During flowering, nitrogen-containing fertilizers should not be applied! It is best to take potassium-phosphorus supplements during this period.

For the winter, garden balsam can be dug up and planted in a pot, and in the spring it can be planted again in the flower garden. At the same time, the bush will grow and with the help of petioles it can be propagated.

Impatiens are susceptible to aphids, whiteflies and spider mite.

Spider mites appear at elevated temperatures and dry air. Pinkish spots appear on the leaves. If the damage is minor, the plants can be sprayed with a solution of laundry soap. Insecticides are used to control any pests.

If infested with aphids, you can use tobacco dust. The plant and the soil around it are dusted.

For whiteflies, you can additionally prepare sticky traps. In this case, spraying with protective drugs is carried out once a week.

A plant with high humidity and low temperature can be affected by gray rot. Gray spots appear on the surface, leaves fall off, inflorescences become covered with plaque, and a characteristic putrid odor appears.

If rot appears, the plant or affected area is removed. The cut is processed with crushed charcoal. After which, copper sulfate, Barrier, Barrier or other fungicidal preparations are sprayed.

In addition to gray rot, mosaic virus, bacteriosis, powdery mildew. Insecticides are used to prevent the disease. For the fight, Bordeaux mixture is used.

To prevent damage by insects and diseases when planting, you need not to thicken the plants and monitor the cleanliness of the flower garden.

To collect seeds, you must first prepare and bring a bag to the box and only then touch the achene.

Instead of this method, you can collect the seeds along with ripe capsules early in the morning. This procedure requires precision and skill. The bolls are carefully pinched with your fingers and torn away from the peduncle. The picked achenes are rubbed between the fingers, and the contents are poured out to dry.

The seeds are dried on a saucer and scattered into paper bags. When properly stored, germination lasts up to 8 years.

Impatiens: cultivation and care: video

When planted by seedlings, balsam blooms throughout the summer and half of autumn and delights with its beautiful, velvety flowers.

Balsam is a garden perennial flower, which is a flowering plant that tolerates shade well. Balsam has a succulent straight stem that grows up to 50 cm, oval leaves up to 12 cm in length. Balsam is perfect for creating beauty in the shade of the garden. You can grow a flower either in a flower garden on your property or on a windowsill at home. The vast majority of balsams like to be outdoors in the summer; with the onset of winter, they need to be transplanted into pots and brought indoors.

Planting garden balsam in open ground

You can plant a flower in the garden with the final onset of warmth. If frost returns after moving the plants outside, there is a high probability that they will die. Planting is carried out mainly by seeds, although if you don’t want to wait, you can buy mature flowers.

For planting, dig holes in advance and add compost and fertilizer to them. So that the seedlings can be easily removed from the pots, they are pre-watered. The flower must be planted at the same depth at which it grew in the pot, the remaining space must be filled with substrate and crushed well. In order for the flower to take root, it needs to be well watered and the soil loosened.

Lighting and temperature

Impatiens need indirect sunlight; on especially hot sunny days, the flower must be shaded. If it is exposed to direct bright rays for a long time, the moisture will evaporate from the plant, it will emit an unpleasant odor and wither. It is best to plant balsam on the western or eastern side of the site. In the summer, when the flower grows outside, the optimal temperature for it will be about 21°C; in winter, when the flower is moved indoors, the temperature should not fall below 13°C.

What should the soil be like?

Impatiens, especially if grown indoors, need light, loose, moderately nutritious soil. An excess of nutrients in the soil will lead to increased growth of green mass, which has a bad effect on flowering. Very loose soil will also not be beneficial; the flower will not be able to firmly establish itself in it. Slightly acidic soil is best. Compost, humus, perlite and turf soil can be added to the composition of such soil in equal parts. You can also mix sand and peat with two parts leaf soil, this will be an adequate replacement.

How to plant a flower

Impatiens is a garden flower, and it needs proper care. In the summer, you can plant balsam in open ground. Planting should be done no earlier than mid-June, otherwise the not yet acclimatized plant will simply die.

Important! The planting site should be semi-shaded.

The indoor plant adapts well to new conditions and blooms well, starting in June and ending in September. In autumn, the flower needs to be dug up and apical cuttings prepared for rooting.

IN winter time balsam needs additional lighting, because it does not have a rest period. If you take good care of it, the plant will delight you with its flowering.

Did you know? There are certain types of impatiens that bloom only in the summer.

There are two ways to grow balsam:

Using seeds. To do this, pour soil into the pot, compact and moisten it. Place the seeds at a distance of 2 cm from each other, sprinkle with soil. Cover the pot with a plastic bag and place it in a bright place. When the seedlings sprout and bloom, transplant them into the garden. Good seedlings will grow in 4 months.
Everyone knows that impatiens are garden impatiens. In order to grow such a handsome man, you can use cuttings. Only perennial flowers are propagated by cuttings. Choose young shoots that are strong and strong. Cut them, the length of the cutting should be about 7 cm. Plant the cutting in a pot with soil, compact the soil around it. Place the pot in a warm place and water the flower. You can cover the shoot with a plastic cup to create a greenhouse effect.

The balsam flower is easy to grow, and you should not have any problems with how to care for it.

Humidity and watering the plant

Popularly, balsam has an interesting name - Vanka wet. He was given this name for his love of abundant watering and high humidity. But you can’t just flood the flower, because this can cause the development of root rot. With proper watering of balsam, the soil will not become dry and will always remain moist. IN winter period the amount of water needs to be reduced. The water should be soft.

Did you know? In order for the water to become soft, it needs to sit for several days.

When is balsam feeding needed?

Flowers such as impatiens, which grow in the garden area, need good feeding during their flowering and growth period. It is necessary to fertilize the flower well from April to November; in winter, you can either not fertilize at all, or significantly reduce the amount of fertilizer. It is recommended to feed the flower once every 2 weeks.

Impatiens pruning

Over the long winter, balsam grows greatly, so closer to spring it needs to be cut off, leaving only half the length of the shoots, then the flower stimulates the growth of new, stronger shoots. If a flower develops many shoots, then its flowering will be magnificent. Throughout the year, watch how the balsam grows; caring for the flower allows you to trim thickening and weak branches, due to which the flower reproduces well.

Rules for transplanting balsam

The optimal time to transplant balsam is spring. But if there is such a need, then you can transplant the flower in the summer. It is important to understand that good flowering directly depends on the size of the pot. During transplantation, you need to get rid of old plants so that young ones have the opportunity to sprout. Young plant need to be replanted every year. If the flower is already mature (no older than 3 years), then it can be renewed (by rooting apical cuttings) or replanted.

Balsam propagation

In order to grow balsam yourself, you first need to prepare seedlings. Prepare required soil, add a fungicide to it, which will protect the plant from the appearance of harmful fungi.

Where to get and how to grow seeds

Sowing balsam begins with purchasing seeds. Before sowing, they need to be disinfected. To do this, prepare a warm solution of light purple potassium permanganate and dip the seeds in it for 10 minutes. Then drain the solution and pour warm water over the seeds. clean water. Let them brew for a day. After this, sow the flower seeds in moist soil and lightly sprinkle with earth, create a greenhouse. After 3 weeks, the first shoots will appear.

Thanks to its long-blooming beautiful flowers and unpretentiousness, balsam for a long time was popular as a houseplant. Currently, the flower is widely used for cultivation in open ground, decorating front gardens, flower beds, flower beds and borders with their large flowers. If all planting and care requirements are met, balsam can be grown from seeds and long time admire its blossoms.

Garden balsam: photo, description, varieties

The plant is shrub height from 25 to 50 cm. On its elongated, rather large, fleshy leaves, droplets form during the growth process, which is why the balsam received the second name “Wet Vanka”.

At the base of the leaves are formed large flowers, which can be of different shades. In nature, balsam blooms with purple and pink flowers. Hybrid garden plants may have simple or double flowers of various shades, except blue and yellow. After the inflorescences open completely, spurs form in them. In open ground, flowering begins in late May - mid-June and continues until frost.

In nature, there are many types of balsams. Breeders bred special garden varieties, which include:

"Vanka wet" You can reproduce in two ways:

Seeds.
Cuttings.

Seed propagation at home

When growing balsam from seeds at home, you can get early flowering of the plant.

In February-early March, sowing is carried out in fields filled with special soil. seedling containers. The earthen mixture is prepared from equal parts garden soil, peat and coarse sand. It should be light and breathable.

The seeds are placed at a distance of 3-4 cm from each other. The plant loves light, so you don’t need to sprinkle the seeds on top with soil. The soil is sprayed with warm water and covered with glass or polyethylene. The result is a mini greenhouse in which the seedlings will sprout together. The containers are placed in a warm place, the soil is ventilated daily.

As soon as the first shoots appear, the seedlings are placed in a well-lit place. Caring for it involves keeping the soil moist. When 2-3 true leaves appear, the plants are planted in separate cups. The stems and roots of balsams are very fragile, so transplantation is done carefully. As soon as the bushes grow and on them 6-8 leaves will appear, they can be pinched. In this case, the roots will become stronger and the plant will become lush.

If you don’t want to bother with seedlings, then you can grow balsam from seeds directly in open ground. Seeds are sown after the last frost in previously prepared soil and covered with polyethylene or acrylic on top. Seedlings should sprout in about 5-7 days.

Propagation by cuttings

Balsam bushes easy to take cuttings, take root and grow into new beautiful plants. Cuttings can be carried out at any time of the year. To do this you will need:

Cut cuttings 5-6 cm long, each of which should have at least 3-5 leaves.
Remove the leaves from below, place the pieces in water and put them in a shaded place.
After about 7-10 days, roots will appear, and the cuttings can be planted at home in pots or directly in open ground.

Caring for cuttings after planting in the soil consists of providing them with good lighting, a temperature within 20-22C and regular watering. It is worth noting that there is no need to be too zealous in moistening the soil, since the fleshy stems of balsams are susceptible to rotting.

Impatiens: planting and care in open ground

It is best to grow “Vanka wet” on the western or eastern side of the garden plot. Under good natural light, the plant will quickly form buds and bloom for a long time. Bushes planted in the shade turn out to be tall, but they have approximately the number of flowers decreases by 50%. If the area for planting balsam is sunny, then during the hot period it should be shaded from the midday sun.

It can be placed with almost any plant, but it will grow and look best with verbena, fuchsia, begonia or ageratum.

Landing Features

Seedlings grown at home will be ready for planting in the ground immediately after the last frost has stopped. It must be prepared for outdoor conditions in advance by taking containers with young plants to the balcony or garden for several hours.

The holes for planting balsams should be apart from each other at a distance of 25-30 cm. If the soil is not very nutritious, then peat, a little humus and sand are first added to each hole.

The seedlings are carefully removed from the pots, moved into the hole, covered with earthen mixture, watered and mulched. To get a wide bush, the top of the balsam can be pinched.

Watering and fertilizing

Impatiens love moist soils without stagnant water. The plant needs to be watered regularly and abundantly, otherwise its leaves will begin to curl up, fade, wither and crumble. Watering is done in evening hours after sunset. On rainy days the plant is not watered.

In order for the bushes of “Vanka wet” to be strewn with flowers for a long time, wilted and faded flowers must be regularly removed.

How to get garden balsam seeds?

You can grow balsams from flowers grown in the garden from seeds you collect yourself. At the end of August, seeds ripen in juicy green boxes, which can be collected and stored until spring. Since a ripe capsule can easily burst when touched, it is recommended to collect seeds from unripe flowers.

Until full ripening, the boxes are laid out in a dry room. As soon as the seeds ripen and dry, they are placed in boxes or paper bags and stored at a temperature within 0-+10C.

Diseases and pests of balsam

Like every plant grown in open ground, balsams are susceptible to some diseases and pest attacks:

On garden plots Impatiens look best in group plantings. Single plants very effective in pots and containers. With their help, you can decorate even an uninhabited area, a boring balcony or a large loggia. Since planting and caring for balsam does not take much time, turning an ordinary flowerbed into a constantly blooming multi-colored flower garden will not be difficult.

Garden balsam

Garden balsam is a popular plant that was previously grown only indoors. Today it has become the favorite flower on personal plots. The long-flowering plant is unpretentious and does not require complex care.

This flower has gained popularity among summer residents and owners of country houses. Planted in a flowerbed, along a path, or in a front garden, it will delight you with its bright colors for a long time. abundant flowering the owner and his guests.

Description of the plant

This is a long-blooming annual flower with a spherical or pyramidal shape. If you provide the planting and care required for the balsam flower, the height of each plant can reach 70 centimeters. It is found in wildlife Asia, Africa, China, southern Europe, Japan, where samples reaching two meters in height were noticed.

The world selection includes about 400 species of garden balsam. But in Russia there are no more than 15 of them. The most popular are:

Tom Thumb;
Camellia;
Waller;
Exotic dwarf;
terry Impatiens;
Vanka wet (light);
Impreza.

The first wild flowers were discovered in 1884, but they did not attract the attention of European breeders at that time. Today, while studying modern varieties, you can see a variety of shapes and colors. Most plants have a single straight stem, which is dotted with many beautiful flowers located at the base of the leaf. But thanks to selection, it was possible to develop varieties in the form of low, but abundantly flowering bushes. A rich range of colors, a variety of shapes, and long flowering allow flower beds to remain bright until autumn.

After the flower has bloomed, an oblong-shaped fruit with five chambers is formed, each of which contains seeds. Upon contact with the fruit, it bursts and curls, and the seeds scatter within a radius of two meters. That is why the plant was nicknamed impatiens. The seeds are quite fertile and remain viable (germination) for eight years.

Characteristics of varieties

Popular varieties of garden balsam can be characterized as follows:

Growing from seeds

All varieties of balsams have small seeds. They do not germinate well in the absence or insufficient light. Therefore, it is not recommended to plant in holes. The seeds are simply sown on the surface of the soil. To prevent the wind from blowing them away, you can sprinkle a small layer of sand on top or simply sprinkle them with water. Planting material, like an adult plant, is sensitive to the lack and excess of moisture. The first shoots will appear on day 15-20.

It must be recalled that garden balsam requires feeding when grown. It is advisable to carry out the first one immediately after landing. Suitable for this ready-made fertilizers for flowers. There are special fertilizers for balsams on sale. If you can’t purchase it, you can feed the plant with any organic product, which gardeners often prepare themselves. For example, it could be a nettle infusion. It is diluted at a ratio of 1:10 and simply watered the place where the crop is sown.

Planting seedlings

It is necessary to sow balsam seeds for seedlings at the end of February. So the garden balsam flower will gain the necessary strength until mid-spring, root system will get stronger. Containers prepared for seeds are filled with fertile soil. To do this, just mix garden soil, peat and sand in equal quantities. The soil should be loose. Before sowing, it is advisable to treat the soil with a fungicide. This will help prevent pests from infesting the plants.

In order to sow a flower for seedlings, it is necessary to carry out simple preparatory measures. It is advisable to moisten the soil with warm water, and then perform a number of actions:

Spread the seeds on the surface, maintaining a distance of several centimeters.
Lightly sprinkle sand on top of the seeds.
Place the containers on the windowsill, where there is most light. There is no need to cover. But by creating a microclimate, you can wait for faster germination.
Support temperature regime at least 23 degrees.
Moisten the soil regularly. Make sure there is no excess moisture. This may cause the seedlings to die.
After the first shoots appear, you can lower the temperature. This will help harden the plant.
If necessary, if there is not enough space for the seedlings, pick after the first three full leaves appear.

When the weather is favorable outside, the containers can be taken outside. This is another step to harden the plant. Ready, strong seedlings are planted in open ground at the end of April or early May.

For planting, holes are prepared in advance, which are filled by a third with compost or other fertilizer for rooting. The seedlings are carefully removed from the containers. Preferably with a clod of earth and planted in holes. Sprinkle with soil. The planting site can be mulched to prevent the growth of weeds and drying out of the soil. Active flowering will begin at the end of May or early June and will continue throughout the season.

If you want to grow perennial garden balsam, then you should plant it in pots that will be stored in a warm room for the winter. Or in winter, replant the plant in indoor pots. All known garden varieties are not suitable for wintering.

Cuttings of culture

Propagation by cuttings is quite simple. It often happens that a person sees a beautiful flowering plant in a flowerbed or somewhere indoors, but does not know where to get seedlings or seeds. To do this, you need to pinch off the top of one of the branches and place the sprout in a container of water. Roots appear in just a couple of weeks. After this, you can plant it in open ground, weather permitting, or in an indoor pot.

The plant from which the sprout was taken will not be harmed. This will even improve his condition. Breeders advise pinch off the tops to achieve abundant flowering. It is better to ensure that the plant has enough light. With a deficiency, balsam stretches out, turns pale and an abundance of buds is not observed.

Problems and diseases

The plant does not require close attention and constant care. In order for the balsam in the flowerbed to please with abundant flowering, it must be protected from possible diseases and pests, including:

whitefly;
spider mite

If such pests are noticed on the plant, you can treat it with a solution of Bardos mixture. It contains lime and copper sulfate. It is diluted according to the instructions, after which the plant and soil are sprayed with a sprayer. It is important that the soil is disinfected before planting the plant. To do this, you can treat it with a solution of potassium permanganate. 2 grams of crystals are diluted in a liter of water. Then the solution is filtered and the volume is adjusted to 10 liters. This water is used to water the ground.

Sometimes a flower may shed its leaf. This indicates that the irrigation regime was disrupted and the soil simply dried out. Timely watering will help bring the flower back to life. If there is no flowering, it can be assumed that the plant does not have enough nutrition. It is enough to feed it with a special fertilizer, nettle infusion.

The appearance of black spots on the leaves indicates infection with bacteriosis. Solutions of Alirin or Fitosporin will help save the situation. If this is not at hand, you can use antibacterial agents designed for humans. One tablet or ampoule of a tetracycline antibiotic is diluted in a glass of water and sprayed on the plant, added to water for irrigation.

The decision to plant and grow balsam is optimal in order to create a bright and beautiful flower bed or flower garden. Impatiens balsam fits perfectly in compositions with any other plants. They can quickly revive any boring corner of your own site. Just a little time and care will be needed to create a unique, bright, cozy corner suburban area.

Balsam is popular not only as a houseplant, it is also grown in gardens, which is why gardeners often have questions about caring for garden balsam at home. To help answer these questions, we have put together this article that explains all aspects of growing garden balsam.

With proper care, balsam blooms profusely and for a long time, so we advise you to carefully read this article. By following all the instructions you will grow beautiful flowers and decorate your garden.

This plant is unpretentious and will not force you to devote much time to it. It is only necessary to meet certain requirements for the balsam to feel comfortable and bloom unhindered.

Description of Garden Balsam

Other names: Vanka wet, touch-me-not, impatiens, light.
Impatiens (translated as impatiens) is part of families Balsam. It is a perennial, but is grown outdoors as an annual as it cannot withstand the slightest frost. However, if you grow it in a pot and bring it indoors in winter, the flower can last you 3 years.
Height plants vary from 15 to 45 centimeters.
Its thick and juicy leaves and stems form a shape that may look like a ball or sphere, compressed on both sides. Also, the shoots may simply stick out in different directions or upwards. It depends on the type and variety.
Flowers varied and appearance, and by color. Some of them resemble carnations, others - camellias or roses. But most often they are quite simple, consisting of five petals of a slightly irregular shape, although this is not noticeable to the eye. They reach up to 10 centimeters in diameter.
Bloom occurs 70–90 days after sowing. It’s interesting, but it’s very difficult to get this species to bloom in the house.
Large seeds garden balsam has a brownish-brown hue. They are shaped like a ball, slightly compressed from the sides, and ripen in the fruit - a capsule. The seed capsule usually ripens a month after the flower withers. If you touch a ripe capsule, it shoots out seeds. It is because of this that she was called touchy. Perhaps it is especially important that the seeds retain their viability even after 8–10 years.

Large flowers are formed at the base of the leaves, which can be of various shades. In nature, balsam blooms with purple and pink flowers. Hybrid garden plants can have single or double flowers in various shades other than blue and yellow. After the inflorescences open completely, spurs form in them. In open ground, flowering begins in late May - mid-June and continues until frost.

Floral arrangements or combinations with plants

Gardeners prefer to plant balsam in group plantings. It goes great with begonias and bluebells. Some people like the composition of balsam with violets. Balsam looks interesting in company with boxwood.

“Vanka wet” has become widespread in landscape design. It is used for decoration alpine slides, flower bed Garden balsam is also used to decorate borders and create mixboxers.

Garden balsam is an annual plant that, with careful care, can become perennial plant. It can be grown both at home and in open ground. Planting, propagating and caring for a plant may seem quite difficult for some. But the beauty of the annual and its fabulous flowers-lights compensate for everything in full.

Features of garden balsam

Garden balsam or impatiens impatiens, popularly known as “Vanka wet” or “Ogonyok”, is different long term flowering - from June to September.
Balsam garden blossoms from June to September

Advice! If balsam seeds are sown in January, then flowering plants can be received as early as May.

There are 3 types of this plant:

dwarf - the height of the bushes does not exceed 25 cm;
medium-sized - the height of the bushes ranges from 25-40 cm;
tall - bushes with a height of 40 to 75 cm.

Garden balsam is characterized by the presence of a fleshy straight stem, oval or lanceolate leaves of a green or purple-bronze hue, and buds located in the axils of the leaves. Impatiens impatiens blooms in various shades of pink, red, crimson, white, violet, lilac and salmon.

Breeders have also developed varieties with two-colored buds. Simple and double flowers of garden balsam, according to their shape, are divided into:

camelliaceae;
Dianthus;
rose-shaped.

The following series of varieties are very popular:

When and where to plant

This plant absolutely does not tolerate even the slightest frost and therefore is planted only after it has ended. In central Russia, planting is carried out in early June, and in southern regions- at the beginning of May.

Impatiens likes warmth, soil with a lot of organic matter, and sunny places. But in the last few years, the sun's activity has increased and it burns in highly lit areas. Therefore, it is good to plant impatiens in the shade of trees.

The areas where you plan to place it should be protected from strong winds and cold air currents. In this case, the fragile stems of the fire will break less, and it will bloom much longer and more abundantly.

Planting and care

The places where you are going to plant the fire are dug up and organic fertilizers are added (best of all is rotted cow dung). It is also a good idea to add microfertilizers.

In a flowerbed, the distance between plants when planting should be 20 - 30 centimeters. The distance between tall varieties is 30 cm, and between dwarf varieties - 20 cm.
Impatiens were called wet because they require quite a lot of water when growing. Although many believe that the name comes from sugar deposits on the leaves in the form of dew. In any case, too much moisture leads to rapid death and this must not be forgotten. It grows very quickly and within a month the light grows completely and is almost completely covered with flowers. There are practically no leaves visible behind them.
In order for impatiens to bloom without interruption until late autumn, it is fed every ten days with mineral and organic fertilizers with microelements. Feed once mineral fertilizers, another time - organic. Flowering time will also increase if faded inflorescences are removed from the bush on time.

This plant is attacked by balsam aphids, strawberry mites and meadow bugs. Insecticides destroy aphids and bedbugs, and a solution of colloidal sulfur will help fight strawberry mites.

But usually, with normal care in the open ground, almost no one attacks the impatiens. And no treatment with drugs is needed.

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How to plant

Planting can be done both in a pot and in open ground. It is carried out mainly by seeds. Although you can buy an already mature plant.

Advice. Impatiens prefer slightly acidic soil, so add peat moss before planting in the pot.

The plant's germination rate is high quality. Planting is carried out one seed at a time in a separate pot.

Caring for the “touchy”

All types of impatiens are sun-loving plants. In summer they are planted in open ground.
Planting takes place no earlier than June so that the plant can acclimatize.
Advice. Most best option for balsam in open ground - partial shade.
In winter, the perennial needs additional lighting. With its deficiency or absence, balsams stop blooming.

Should I buy seeds or collect them myself?

Stores sell a variety of seeds for sowing; they can remain viable for up to 8 years. Hybrids are distinguished by abundant flowering, their traditional color is purple and orange. New Guinea hybrids of new selections will delight you with variegated foliage, double or solid colors. Available for sale dwarf varieties and bouquet, growing up to 40 cm in height and having the shape of a bouquet. They cost much more than traditional seed packets. But you will be able to collect your collection after flowering and not overpay for the purchase next year. But it is worth clarifying that seeds collected from hybrid bushes do not always give the great result that was in the previous season.

It is more practical to obtain strong and abundantly flowering balsam from seeds (growing will be described below) by seedlings. If desired, you can prepare planting material yourself. If you know how to collect petunia seeds, then there will be no difficulties with balsams. The quality of planting material will depend on timely collection and proper storage.

Impatiens seeds are formed in fleshy fruits - capsules. In the absence of control, they actively spread by self-seeding.

At the slightest touch, ripe seed pods explode, scattering seeds in all directions. This greatly complicates the process of collecting them. You need to pick the fruits with caution, carefully bringing the container to the shoots. You should start picking when the fruits have just begun to turn white. Some gardeners tie several boxes in advance with gauze or any thin material to prevent seed loss in case of spontaneous opening of the fruit.

Growing by seedling method

Garden balsam, planting seedlings of which is not so difficult, is sown in March-April. For the next sowing, a mixture of leaf soil, sand and peat in equal quantities is suitable. Large varieties sow in a mixture of peat and sand (perlite). Fresh organic fertilizers are poorly tolerated by young seedlings, so you should not add them to the soil.

Before planting, the substrate must be disinfected with boiling water or a concentrated solution of potassium permanganate, then sifted. To avoid unnecessary hassle, you can use a specialized primer. It has already been processed and is ready for planting.
Before sowing, the soil in the container or seedling cups is leveled and moistened with a spray bottle. Place the seeds at a short distance from each other (3-4 cm), lightly sprinkle with sand or sifted soil and moisten again with a spray bottle.
To maintain constant high level humidity and heat, it is recommended to cover the containers plastic film, glass or transparent plastic. The optimal temperature for germination is 23-25 °C.

At lower rates, seedlings will appear longer. Growing catharanthus from seeds, begonias, petunias and most other flower crops is organized in a similar way.

Protective film

How to grow balsam from seeds strong and hardy? To avoid the formation of fungus, it is necessary to raise the protective film, which covers the seedlings. You need to keep the boxes with seedlings in a bright place. Sprouts will appear within 5-14 days. After a few days, the polyethylene or glass used for covering is completely removed. For the first 10 days, the temperature can be reduced to +16-18°C so that the root system grows and becomes stronger. To maintain the required level of humidity, continue to spray from a spray bottle. After 2 weeks, the temperature can be increased to +20°C. A decrease in night temperature is beneficial for the plant.

Picking into separate cups is carried out when 2-3 true leaves are formed. In order for the bushes to grow lush, the tops are pinched after the formation of 6-8 leaves.

If you don’t want to tinker with seedlings, then it is possible to grow garden balsam from seeds directly in a flowerbed or garden bed. It should be sown no earlier than mid-April, when low temperatures You can’t wait for shoots. Plantings should be covered with polyethylene until the threat of spring frosts has passed.

Planting in the ground and subsequent care

Before planting balsam in the flowerbed, it needs to be prepared. Since this plant is sensitive to cold, it must be gradually accustomed to new conditions. To do this, containers with grown seedlings are taken outside every day. The time spent outdoors is increased each time by 3-4 hours. At night, it is better to return the seedlings indoors; on the last day of hardening, they can be left in the garden.

You can plant balsam in a flower bed no earlier than the end of spring, when the air has warmed up sufficiently. Optimal distance between bushes - from 25 to 30 cm. Plants bloom well as in sunny place, and in the shade, they are best placed in areas with diffused lighting. Plantings need to be watered and sprayed regularly, but it is important to avoid excessive moisture. The soil must be periodically weeded and loosened, and wilted flowers must be removed. Impatiens need to be pruned in time so that new shoots are formed and flowering is abundant.

Garden balsam prefers moderate sun. A thin crown of trees or partial shade from a fence will not be an obstacle to growth and flowering - the plant will have enough diffused light. But the scorching ones sun rays and it cannot stand the winds - it begins to wither.

Soil

For planting, balsam should be loose and soft, drained, with low acidity.

Balsam is usually grown through seedlings. To do this, seeds and grown sprouts are sown in March dive one at a time into separate glasses.
And when the threat of spring frosts passes, they are transplanted into a flowerbed (around the 20th of May), freed from the cups and pinched the roots.
Before planting, it is worth treating the soil with a fungicide, feeding it a little with manure and moistening it.

Plants are planted sparsely - at a distance of 30 cm from each other, from this the balsams grow luxuriantly. Seeds can be sown directly in open ground. At normal temperature at 21-26°C, after 14 days you can expect the first shoots. If the air temperature drops below 19°C, the sprouts should be covered with cellophane, or better yet, agril, creating a greenhouse effect

Fertilizer

– one of important conditions care At certain stages of growth you can use:

nitrogen;
organic;
mineral fertilizers.

Abuse of nitrogen fertilizers can cause increased growth of leaves, but the balsam will not bloom. They are best used at the seedling growth stage. During flowering, preference is given to phosphorus and potassium fertilizers. At the end of August, feeding is stopped. To protect the roots of the plant from burns, it is recommended to fertilize the plantings on cloudy days or after sunset. Before this, the plant must be watered.

The most dangerous to balsam are aphids, whiteflies and spider mites. They can be eliminated using insecticides. If, for unknown reasons, the balsam begins to fade, you need to carefully adjust the lighting and frequency of watering.

With desire and careful attention, even a novice gardener can grow garden balsam in his flowerbed; growing any flowers is a fascinating and impressive activity, so everyone should try it.

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Features of care

Impatiens are widely used in landscape design due to their decorative properties and ease of care.

Impatiens prefers to grow on the eastern and southern sides in places with diffused lighting or in shaded areas in the afternoon.
They also take root well on the north side or in the shade of trees, growing taller but producing fewer inflorescences.
Impatiens require abundant watering, but can withstand short-term drought and do not tolerate stagnant water in the soil.
The impatiens respond well to spraying.
To increase bushiness, the tops of the plant can be pinched or trimmed.
It is recommended to fertilize flowering impatiens every 2-3 weeks, using half the dose of potassium-phosphorus fertilizers. From feeding nitrogen fertilizers and it is better to refuse fresh organic matter.
Among the pests, balsams are most often affected by: aphids, spider mites, whiteflies, which can be gotten rid of with the help of special preparations - insecticides. Among fungal diseases, impatiens are susceptible to viral mosaic, ring mosaic, and bronze leaves. If one of the diseases is detected, balsams should be treated with fungicides.
If desired, in the fall you can dig up perennial varieties of balsam and replant them in a heated and illuminated greenhouse, providing the bushes with the opportunity to bloom all year round. The temperature in the greenhouse should not fall below +13-15°C; the optimal temperature for flowering is +20-22°C.
Collecting seeds for future seedlings should be carried out at the stage of whitening of the seed pods, since fully ripened seed pods easily open and self-seeding occurs, which complicates the collection of seed material.

Garden balsam, grown in a greenhouse and then transplanted into containers, flowerpots or open ground, will look great in group single plantings. It gained its popularity due to its decorative qualities, duration of flowering, variety of colors and unpretentiousness in propagation and care.

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Landing Features

The holes for planting balsams should be apart from each other at a distance of 25-30 cm. If the soil is not very nutritious, then peat, a little humus and sand are first added to each hole.

The seedlings are carefully removed from the pots, moved into the hole, covered with earthen mixture, watered and mulched. To get a wide bush, the top of the balsam can be pinched.

Watering and fertilizing

Impatiens do not tolerate flooding, but they will reward you with vigorous flowering for regular but moderate watering. When the sprouts are still young, they should be watered 2 times a week or as the soil near the plant dries out.

Impatiens love moist soils without stagnant water. The plant needs to be watered regularly and abundantly, otherwise its leaves will begin to curl up, fade, wither and crumble. Watering is done in the evening hours after sunset. On rainy days the plant is not watered.
Every two weeks it is recommended to feed the bushes with complex fertilizers for blooming flowers. It is advisable that they nitrogen and potassium were present. In this case, balsams will delight you with their beautiful flowering for a long time.
In order for the bushes of “Vanka wet” to be strewn with flowers for a long time, wilted and faded flowers must be regularly removed.

It is better to fertilize 2 times a week- simultaneously with watering. On the fertilizer package flower plants proportions are usually written. However, experienced gardeners advise adding half as much water as recommended. Balsam also reacts well to fertilizers for geraniums.

Fertilizers with nitrogen good for young shoots on which flower buds have not appeared. But for flowering ones, it is better to use fertilizers with potassium and phosphorus, sometimes replacing them with nitrogen. At the end of summer, fertilization is stopped.

Features of growing seedlings

When the bulk of the seeds have sprouted, ventilation holes are made in the covering material, which will help the seedlings adapt to the microclimate of the greenhouse; after 2-3 days it can be completely removed.

Before transplanting balsam into open ground, it is necessary to harden it

To prevent the shoots from stretching and rotting, it is recommended to reduce the humidity in the greenhouse, maintain the temperature at +19-22° C, and organize additional lighting. Watering is done through spraying. Balsam picking is done very early, as soon as the plant reaches a height of 1-2 cm and real leaves grow. When 2 true leaves appear, the seedlings are carefully planted, without damaging the earthen lump around the roots, into separate containers or peat cups. After this, watering in the greenhouse should be reduced to a moderate amount and the temperature by another 2°.

2 weeks before transplanting balsams into open ground, they should be hardened. Why take the plants out into the fresh air for several hours every day.
From mid-May, the grown seedlings are transplanted from the greenhouse to permanent place. Garden balsams cannot withstand air temperature drops to +5-7°C, so early planting of this plant does not make sense.
Garden balsam cannot withstand temperatures below 5 degrees

Attention! To make the balsam bushes grow thicker, it is recommended to shorten the main root by 1/3 when planting. This simple technique stimulates the active formation of lateral shoots.

What to do after flowering?

Garden balsam blooms all summer, and sometimes until October if the weather is warm. When flowering ends, juicy fruits appear on the plant in the form of a translucent elongated boxes with seeds. You need to catch the moment the seeds ripen and carefully collect them in a bag to plant next year.

The seeds of this plant remain viable for 6-8 years. Since the plant is an annual, at the end of summer, when flowering has ended, it is removed from the flowerbed. And the next year they plant a new one - from seeds or using seedlings.

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How to get garden balsam seeds?

Until full ripening, the boxes are laid out in a dry room. As soon as the seeds ripen and dry, they are placed in boxes or paper bags and stored at a temperature within 0-+10C.

Seed propagation at home

When growing balsam from seeds at home, you can get early flowering of the plant.
In February-early March, sowing is carried out in fields filled with special soil. seedling containers. The soil mixture is prepared from equal parts of garden soil, peat and coarse sand. It should be light and breathable.

The seeds are placed at a distance of 3-4 cm from each other. The plant loves light, so you don’t need to sprinkle the seeds on top with soil. The soil is sprayed with warm water and covered with glass or polyethylene. The result is a mini greenhouse in which the seedlings will sprout together. The containers are placed in a warm place, the soil is ventilated daily.

How to grow balsam from seeds?

The plant is an annual plant, and therefore you should worry in advance about providing yourself with planting material. In addition, there are quite a large number of flower varieties, each of which deserves the attention of gardeners. The issue of growing balsam from seeds always remains relevant, because exchanging seeds of new varieties or purchasing them is much easier than finding a cutting of a suitable plant.

The seeds of the plant are large, and they have one important advantage before seeds of other flower crops: their germination lasts up to eight years. Collected seeds(or purchased) can already be sown as seedlings in February - in this case, the plants will be larger and flowering will begin earlier.
If the early flowering of garden balsam is not too important for you, growing from seeds can be done without seedlings, directly into the ground. This should be done only after stable heat has been established. As a rule, under favorable conditions, the first shoots appear after 7-10 days.
In order to increase the germination of balsam seeds, treat the soil with a fungicide before planting!

The ambient temperature for favorable growth should be at least 19-20 degrees. If weather conditions worsen after planting the seeds, cover the area with film or cover each hole separately with a cut plastic bottle.

Propagation by cuttings

Balsam bushes easy to take cuttings, take root and grow into new beautiful plants. Cuttings can be carried out at any time of the year. To do this you will need:

Cut cuttings 5-6 cm long, each of which should have at least 3-5 leaves.
Remove the leaves from below, place the pieces in water and put them in a shaded place.
After about 7-10 days, roots will appear, and the cuttings can be planted at home in pots or directly in open ground.

If you want to propagate a plant during the period of its active growth and flowering, and do not want to wait to collect the seeds and next year to plant them, follow a few simple steps:

choose the most beautiful and strong plant;
cut off its top;
plant the taken cuttings under the film using sand or vermiculite;
after a week, transplant the cuttings with the resulting roots into the soil or into a pot with peat.

If you want to receive maximum quantity cuttings, select one plant and place it (of course, along with a fragment of soil) in a darkened room for several days.

Due to lack of light, the shoots will stretch, and you will be able to dilute more balsam. To do this, you will need to trim all elongated shoots, clear them of lower leaves and place in a transparent container with clean boiled water. After a few days, you will notice the appearance of roots, which is proof that such cuttings are ready to be transplanted into the ground.

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Increase in plant numbers

Seeds. The plant has high germination characteristics. Sowing is best done in spring. In advance, balsam seeds are soaked in warm water within 10 minutes.
By cuttings. Cut off the tops of plants up to 5 cm long, immersed in water until roots appear. This is done, like sowing seeds, in the spring. The process is quick and easy. To improve the development of the bush, cuttings should be pinched.

Garden balsam can be propagated in a greenhouse in two ways:

annual varieties - by seeds;
perennial varieties - by cuttings.

Growing seedlings in greenhouse conditions allows you to get planting material already at the end of April, ensuring early flowering for the impatiens.

The seeds of this plant are large in size and have high germination rate, which lasts for 8 years. Before planting, the seeds are pickled in a weak solution of potassium permanganate (10 minutes) and then soaked in warm water. In February, the seeds are sown in a box with loose, well-drained soil.

Attention! Impatiens prefers a light, nutritious soil with low acidity, consisting of humus, turf, compost and perlite, taken in equal proportions, or a substrate consisting of 2 parts of leaf soil and 1 part of peat and sand. Before planting, the soil must be treated with a fungicide to prevent the occurrence of fungal diseases.

The seeds should be sprinkled with sand on top, in a layer of 3 mm, well moistened with a spray bottle. The boxes are additionally covered with film or agril, which allows you to create an optimal microclimate for the emergence of seedlings: a temperature of +26 ° C and constant humidity. To avoid the appearance and spread of fungal diseases, the covering material should be opened briefly every day for ventilation. After 4-14 days, shoots will appear.

Dangers

Like many representatives of flora, balsam is susceptible to disease and insect attack.

Rot is a consequence of excessive watering in the cold season. To prevent the appearance of rot, water should not be allowed to stagnate in the soil or pot.
Spider mites are a serious enemy for impatiens. Modern chemicals will help exterminate the pest.
Whitefly is also a nasty pest. The falling leaves are the result of her work. The fight against this unpleasant insect is carried out using certain chemicals.

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Diseases and pests of balsam

Like every plant grown in open ground, balsams are susceptible to some diseases and pest attacks:

The spider mite loves the fleshy leaves of balsams, weaves its webs on them and sucks out the juice. For prevention, the plant is treated with a soap solution. In case of infection, spraying with special chemicals is necessary.
Viral mosaic appears as wavy leaves with yellow spots. The virus of this disease is spread by aphids and thrips. Prevention and treatment consists of treating the plant with drugs against these pests.
Bronzing of leaves causes their deformation and slows growth. The leaves first wrinkle and then fall off. Plants affected by this disease are completely removed.
Ring mosaic affects the leaves first. They become stained, cracked and woody. Impatiens first gradually fade, and then die completely. The affected leaves are removed, and the plant itself is treated with fungicides.